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DO NOT CIRCULATE
LETTERS TO A MOTHER,
FROM A MOTHER,
ON THE
FORMATION, GROWTH,
AND
Care of the Teeth.
BY
THE WIFE OF A DENTIST,
MRS. 1VL. W. J.
X742201
PRIVATE EDITION. PUBLISHED BY PERMISSION BY
H. M. AND H. E. RAGON.
Bath, Maine.
i8Sq.
LIBRARY
DENTAL SCHOOL
W.V.U.
PRESS OF C. W. CALKINS & CO., 52 PURCHASE STREET B08TON.
l^e-f. f^lV)
INTRODUCTION.
No child should be allowed to have a decayed
tooth (sufficiently so to ache), and no mother
should be allowed to remain in ignorance of the
means by which this result can in a majority of
cases be secured.
Naturally anxious for the best welfare of her
child, physically as well as mentally and morally,
well-meant advice, kindly proffered, couched in
proper terms, coming from a competent source*
will never be rejected by any sensible mother.
If proper advice were given every prospective
mother regarding the care of herself, especially in
regard to furnishing abundance of proper nutrient
elements, " bone and tooth food," from the very
hour of conception, children would be born with
the tooth-germs so well nourished during foetal life
that they would erupt at the proper time with little
or no disturbance, and they would be of such fine
structure that but little care beyond strict cleanli-
ness and proper diet would be required to keep
them sound and perfect.
To attain this most desirable end, however,
mothers must be taught how much depends upon
their own efforts, rightiy guided by the wise in-
4 INTRODUCTION.
structions of those made competent to guide and
instruct by a lifetime of research and study.
Teach mothers that the teeth are not formed, as
so many evidently suppose, during the few weeks
or months preceding eruption, when the gums are
swollen, and the child cross and peevish, but that
they date their existence almost from the very be-
ginning of foetal life ; that as early as the sixth or
seventh week after conception the germs of the
teeth are forming in the dental groove — soft and
pulpy, it is true, until about the fourth month,
when calcification begins, the whole tooth being
thoroughly solidified and the enamel formed before
it makes its appearance in the baby's mouth, ex-
cept that the root continues to elongate.
As the teeth can only be formed from tooth-
material, and as this is required from the very earli-
est beginning of the germ formation, teach the
mother that she alone can and must supply this
material. If she does not furnish it, designedly or
otherwise, in sufficient quantity over and above the
amount requisite for her own use, it will be sub-
tracted from her own osseous tissues, and she will
suffer correspondingly, not alone in her teeth and
bones, but under very insufficient regime even " the
brain will become enfeebled from lack of phos-
phoric acid, and the muscles pale and flabby," and
the mother absolutely famish for lack of the neces-
sary elements of nutrition, eVen while apparently
enjoying the most luxurious diet.
INTRODUCTION. 5
Teach the mother what this tooth-making ma-
terial is, and where she is to find the necessary
elements. Teach her that she must not only have
proper food, and sufficient food, but that her sys-
tem must be kept in condition to digest and assimi-
late this food. Teach her the importance of
physical exercise, of fresh air and sunlight, and of
cleanliness, as indispensable adjuncts to diet.
Teach her that these principles must be applied
and these precepts acted upon, not only through
the nine months of gestation, while she supplies
all the elements of nutrition through her blood, but
also during the whole period of lactation, when
her milk is not only the sole magazine of lime-salts
for the further development of the teeth and bones,
but the only source of nutriment for the whole body
of the rapidly-growing child.
If, after weaning, she will habituate her child to
plain, wholesome food, with scrupulous cleanliness
of, and abundant exercise for, the organs of masti-
cation ; provide it with comfortable, easy dress,
and enforce strict obedience to the laws of health,
what a splendid race of men and women should
we see in the next generation !
In the words of Dr. Welchens, " Good, substan-
tial food, containing all the elements necessary to
build up and nourish the various tissues of the
body — clean, warm clothing to protect the surface,
and regular out-door exercise, all with temperance
and moderation, will not only raise the child well,
6 INTRODUCTION.
but, in a large majority of cases, raise a denture
well calculated to withstand the changes of life,
and endure the wear and tear of mastication."
Mothers and children would thus attain a higher
standard of physical development, for these bene-
fits could not accrue solely to the teeth. U A
knowledge and observance of nature's laws must
result in an improvement of the whole being, body,
mind and heart.' *
Extract from "Education of Mothers," by "Mrs.
M. W. y." in Southern Dental Journal, October,
>T. i otj
ADVICE TO MOTHERS
ON THE
CARE OF THE TEETH.
LETTER I.
how the body is built up — importance of
the teeth in the human economy.
My Dear Young Friend :
A year ago you left us, a happy bride ; you then
felt that nothing could be added to the complete-
ness of the tie binding husband and wife ; now,
however, you write me that a still greater fulness
is to round the measure of your life ; you ask me
to tell you how to live, so that the new life, now
being built up from your own heart's blood, may
be physically pure and perfect.
Especially in regard to the formation, growth
and care of the teeth do you desire advice and
information.
Much is involved in these momentous questions ;
they have formed the subject of earnest investiga-
tion and profound thought ; the laboratory of the
chemist and the microscope of the histologist have
aided in solving the mysteries of life.
lB RAftf
S< HOOL
8 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
w.v.u.
You know that your body is built up, little by
little, from the materials gathered from your food,
aided by exercise, fresh air and sunlight.
From your food are gathered the elements that
knit the bones which form the framework ; the
flesh which clothes the bones ; the blood that
courses through the veins ; the nerves, and the
brain which controls the whole.
If the food does not contain the various elements
necessary to build up the several portions of the
body, so different one from the other — the bones
solid and unyielding ; the flesh so delicate and ten-
der ; the blood so brilliant in its coloring, rushing
through the veins and arteries, distributing the
life-giving elements to every portion of the system,
each little drop coming back to the heart every
half-minute, bringing its portion of that which has
been rejected as worthless — disease and death will
ensue.
In the meat and the bread, the fruits, vegetables
and other articles which make up our daily food,
must be found all the constituents of bone and
muscle, flesh, blood, and brains.
This food must not only be taken into the sys-
tem, but it must be thoroughly prepared by masti-
cation for digestion in the stomach, while the
system must be in such a condition of health as to
assimilate, or appropriate and make use of the
food, as it passes into the circulation.
Without good teeth there cannot be thorough
mastication.
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. i)
Without thorough mastication there cannot be
perfect digestion.
Without perfect digestion there cannot be proper
assimilation.
Without proper assimilation there cannot be
nutrition.
Without nutrition there cannot be health.
Without health, what is life?
Hence the paramount importance of the teeth.
LETTER II.
WHEN AND HOW THE TEETH ARE FORMED.
Because the teeth are of such importance in the
building up of the body, the creative energies are
directed toward their formation at a very early
period.
The dimpled hands and rosy feet of the baby,
which so delight the eyes and heart of the young
mother, are perfect in form and shape at its birth ;
the first pearly tooth does not make its appearance
until many months later, and six years must elapse
before the permanent teeth begin to come into
place.
Six months before the birth of the child the germs
of the twenty baby teeth are lying, side by side, in
the dental groove, while the germs of the perma-
nent teeth are all lying hidden in the tender gums
when the baby is born ; and yet how many months
IO ADVICE TO MOTHERS
and even years must elapse before the last are
called into active service.
And all this time they are growing. Taking
their shapes long before the little limbs bear any
resemblance to the plump legs and arms that are
so beautiful to the mother's eye, the teeth are being
built up, atom by atom, as the necessary elements
of tooth-food are furnished by the mother's blood.
For seven months before, and seven months after
birth, the first little baby-tooth is growing — at first
a mere sac containing the pulp, yet bearing the
shape of the future tooth. In this sac, and around
the pulp, are deposited the calcareous elements,
or lime-salts, gathered from the mother's food, of
which the tooth is formed.
Little by little, the tender, living pulp is sur-
rounded by dentine, the bony substance forming
the body of the tooth. Over this is laid the glassy
outward envelope of enamel, dense and imper-
vious to the healthy fluids of the mouth ; and thus,
perfect in substance, size and shape, the crown
emerges from the gum, the root growing longer as
the walls of the socket build up around it to hold it
firmly in its place. A minute opening at the apex
of the root called the foramen, gives passage to a
nerve, a vein and an artery, through which the cir-
culation is carried on that conveys the nutrient ele-
ment to every portion of the substance ; for the
teeth, dense as they appear, are endowed with the
most sensitive nerves, and are subject to the same
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. II
laws that govern every other portion of the human
organism, a change of particles — ''composition
and decomposition " — going on, slow but con-
stant, as long as life lasts.
If the great Creator deems the little baby-tooth
of sufficient importance to require fourteen months
for its growth and development, while nine months
suffice for the eye or the ear, should not the mother
look upon it as a precious jewel, worthy her most
watchful care lest it suffer injury by her neglect
and carelessness?
Should she not earnestly seek to learn what are
those elements of tooth-food which she alone can
and must supply, and where they are to be found
in the greatest purity and abundance ?
She does this much for her flowers and her bird ;
can she do less for her baby's teeth, on which de-
pend so largely its future health and happiness?
LETTER III.
WHAT THE TEETH ARE, AND OF WHAT THEY
ARE FORMED.
That you may the more readily comprehend the
necessities of the teeth, and how you may provide
those of your babe with the proper elements to
make them so sound and perfect in structure that
they will last as long as life itself, with proper care
and treatment, we will now consider "What the
tooth is," and of " What elements it is composed,"
12 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
We have seen that the tooth is an organized
body, each one having its own nervous and circu-
lating system.
The central cavity of the tooth is occupied by the
pulft, which is simply an enlargement of the nerve,
vein and artery, mentioned as passing through the
apex of the root, and thus connecting with the gen-
eral nervous and arterial systems.
From the pulp ramifies a circulatory system,
which carries the nutrient elements to every por-
tion of the tooth substance, building it up sound
and strong if the requisite elements are brought to
it ; leaving it soft and cartilaginous if the supply is
insufficient ; even taking away from the mother's
teeth the materials for those of her babe, if she
does not supply a sufficiency for both.
The pulp is surrounded by the bony substance of
the body of the tooth, called dentine , which, being
liable to decay by contact with various external
agencies, is protected by a thin layer of the most
dense material found in the human system, called
enamel ; its appearance is familiar to all, being of
a fine glassy texture and smoothness.
The root, being entirely hidden in the gums and
bony socket, and thus protected from injurious con-
tact with foreign elements, is covered with a less
dense material than either the enamel or the den-
tine, called cementum; this material bears a closer
resemblance to bone than any other portion of the
tooth.
ON THE CARE OP' THE TEETH. 1 3
Now, what is bone?
If you have ever lived in the country, and know
anything about raising chickens, you know that
when eggs are laid with the shells too thin, as often
happens — sometimes but little more than a mere
skin confining the contents — bones, left from the
meat used at table, are heated and pulverized, and
fed to the hens, to furnish them with lime for their
egg-shells. When bones are so thoroughly burned
as to destroy the animal tissues and leave only the
mineral elements, bone-black is the result, of which
eighty-eight parts in every hundred are the phos-
phate and carbonate of lime, the remainder being
mainly carbon. The teeth, as they stand in the
mouth, differ from bone mainly in the much larger
proportion of these elements, about eighty parts in
every hundred of the constituents of tooth-substance
being the phosphate and carbonate of lime, phos-
phate of magnesia, etc. If teeth are burned, the
mineral elements remain ; if they are dissolved in
strong acid, the lime-salts disappear, and a carti-
laginous or jelly-like mass remains, being the ani-
mal basis with which the lime-salts are combined
in the cells of which the tooth is built up.
Thus the constituent elements of tooth-substance
are both animal and mineral, by, far the greater
portion of the latter being lime in its various
combinations.
You must therefore furnish your blood, through
your food, with a sufficient supply of lime to not
14 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
only nourish your own bones and teeth, but also to
build up those of the little being for whose physi-
cal proportions you are henceforth responsible.
Upon you, and you alone, is laid this responsi-
bility. The physical impress of the father was
stamped, once for all, upon this new being at the
moment of conception. If for good, you will only
make it better ; if for evil, you alone can apply the
remedy.
From your system alone can the nutrient ele-
ments be drawn.
If the supply be deficient, upon you alone will
fall the consequences, and they are often very
serious.
If the supply be very meagre, your own bones
and teeth will be drawn upon to supply the defi-
ciency ; your teeth will become sensitive and pain-
ful, and decay will set in ; your muscles will
become pale and flabby, and you will feel weak and
languid; even the very brain itself, in extreme
cases, will become enfeebled from lack of the phos-
phoric acid withdrawn to form the phosphates of
lime and magnesia entering into the composition
of the teeth and bones.
In the words of Dr. G. R. Thomas: " The
child, while dependent upon the mother, gets lime,
phosphorus, silex, potash, and all the other ele-
ments of which the teeth are composed, in just such
proportions as she gets them from the food nature
provides, in their natural proportions. But where
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 15
can the child, in its forming state, get these neces-
sary elements, whose mother lives principally on
starch, butter and sugar, neither of which contains
a particle of lime, potash, phosphorus or silex?
. . . Nothing short of a miracle can give her a
child with good teeth, and especially with teeth
well-enameled. "
I hope that I have now succeeded in impressing
upon your mind a sense of the solemn responsibil-
ity you have assumed, in taking upon yourself the
duties of maternity, and that you are now ready to
ask me, " Where shall I find these elements ?" and
that you feel willing to make some little self-sacri-
fice, if necessary, in the matter of diet, in order to
benefit not alone your unborn babe ; the results, if
you are faithful to your trust, will be traced
through future generations, and your posterity will
call you blessed.
LETTER IV,
FOOD PRINCIPLES.
To furnish the system with the necessary lime-
salts, you must not for the moment imagine that I
would advise you to attempt the use of lime itself,
in the crude form in which it is known to you,
though much benefit is derived from the free use of
lime-water, prepared from this crude lime ; very
cheaply and easily prepared at home, though quite
expensive when obtained from the druggist.
1 6 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
To make it yourself, you require simply a tea-
cupful of clean lime, such as is used by house-
builders.
Put this in a quart pitcher and fill it with cold
water, stirring thoroughly until it looks like milk ;
tie a piece of thin muslin over the pitcher and let
it stand twenty-four hours, or until perfectly clear ;
pour it off carefully, straining through the muslin,
being careful not to disturb the lime, and stop as
soon as it is the least cloudy. Keep this clear
lime-water in a bottle for constant use, refilling the
pitcher on the same lime, and stirring well. This
can be repeated several times, or until the lime
loses its strength, when the pitcher must be emp-
tied and washed, and the process renewed.
A tablespoonful of this lime-water, in a glass of
water or milk, is imperceptible to the taste, and
even two or three are not unpleasant. It leaves a
peculiarly sweet and pleasant taste in the mouth,
though if too strong (which should be avoidedj, it
is harsh and acrid.
This alone, taken three times a day, has been
found beneficial to prospective mothers, in harden-
ing teeth rendered soft and sensitive from deficient
mineral lime-salts ; also in hardening children's
teeth, and in hastening their development when
late in coming into place.
It should also be used to rinse the mouth and
bathe the teeth after the use of acid fruits, or lem-
onade, or strong medicines. Of the effect of acids
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 1 7
upon the teeth, more will be said in another
chapter.
We will now investigate the subject of Food
Principles, and endeavor to learn where the essen-
tial elements are to be found, in such shape as to
be readily digested and assimilated by the human
system, passing from the stomach to be taken up
by the little blood-vessels and conveyed to every
portion of the body, " teeth and toe-nails" in-
cluded.
We must know " what to eat, when to eat, and
how to eat."
The human body is composed of thirteen essen-
tial chemical elements, variously combined. These
same elements are necessarily the elements of the
food from which the body is built up.
The most simple classification of nutritive prin-
ciples places them all under four heads : the
aqueous, the saccharine, the oleaginous, and the
albuminous .
By the combination of these principles our foods
are formed. Milk, the one article of food furnished
by nature for the young human being, contains the
types of all four groups — the aqueous as water,
the saccharine as sugar, the oleaginous as butter,
and the albuminous as casein or curd.
Milk is therefore a perfect article of food, con-
taining all the essential principles of infantile
nutrition.
In the brute creation, through obedience to nat-
1 8 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
ure's laws, the milk is what it should be, and the
offspring, as a rule, healthy, with sound and per-
fect teeth.
That the human mother's milk may be what it
should be, and her offspring also be healthy and
have sound teeth, her milk must contain the chem-
ical elements which are essential to these four
nutritive principles. Her milk is evolved from her
blood ; her blood is evolved from her food ; there-
fore her food must contain these elements.
Dr. A. C. Castle said twenty years ago, that
" chemical analysis demonstrates the natural milk
almost identical with the blood, abounding with
the phosphates. Indeed, with correctness it might
be asserted that the difference between milk and
blood is in color — the one is white, and the other
red."
It is not necessary that I should place before you
a list of all the articles of diet from which we may
obtain the elements of nutrition.
No one article of diet can supply one single ele-
ment of nutrition, for so generously has nature sup-
plied them, and so variously has she combined
them, that we can hardly go astray if we use her
gifts aright.
But alas ! in the refinement of our higher civil-
ization we deprive ourselves of her most precious
gifts, rejecting scornfully the very elements most
essential to our physical well-being.
The beasts of the field accept her gifts with re-
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 1 9
joicing, and thrive thereon. The poor savage, in
his native wilds, has coarse fare and few comforts,
but he is erect and strong, and his teeth are sound
and regular.
A well-known writer and dentist says: "I am
often asked, when discoursing upon this subject to
my patients, ' What articles of food ought we to
eat, in order to make good teeth ? * I answer,
everything that grows will make good teeth, if
eaten in its natural state, no elements being taken
out, for every one of them does make good teeth
for horses, cows, sheep, and all other animals that
live on nature's productions, pure and unadulter-
ated."
That you and your children may be strong and
your teeth sound, I do not ask you to eat grass, nor
do I ask you to go back to a state .of savagery, but
I do ask you to take your food in the proportions
in which nature provides it.
And this brings us back again to your question :
" Where shall I find these elements ?" In my
next letter I will endeavor to help you to answer
this question.
LETTER V.
WHERE THE ELEMENTS OF TOOTH SUBSTANCE
ARE FOUND — CALCIUM.
The constituents of tooth substance being what
we are chiefly looking for, we will first take the
chemical element, calcium, or lime, which we
20 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
have seen to be the principal element in tooth
substance.
Calcium is generously furnished by nature. It
is found in milk, in eggs, in potatoes, and many
other vegetables and fruits ; but especially does it
abound in the grains or cereals which furnish a
large proportion of our food ; and most abundantly
is it found in wheat, which furnishes "the staff of
life " ; but alas ! not in the fine white flour of
which are made the snowy loaves of bread which
the good housewife displays with such pride.
Dr. N. J. Bellows, of Boston, speaking of food,
says : " It is well known that our pale-faced girls
and our feeble-minded children are brought into
that condition mainly by living on sugar, butter,
and superfine flour, out of which have been taken
the very elements that make bone and blood, and
give energy to the brain and nervous system ; and
the common sense remedy for all these terrible
evils is to be found in a simple resort to nature's
own storehouse."
In 500 pounds of whole grain (wheat) there is :
Muscle material . . . . • 78 pounds.
Bone and teeth materials . . 85 "
Fat principle 12 "
500 pounds of fine flour contain :
Muscle material 65 pounds.
Bone and teeth materials . . 30 "
Fat principle 10 "
Thus, in flour, as generally used, to quote the
words of Dr. John Allen, of New York city, a den-
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 21
tist of fifty years' experience, who has given this
subject much attention :
" We change the proportions of the mineral ele-
ment (which is deposited in the outer portion of
the grain) by bolting out nearly two-thirds of it
from every barrel of flour, and discarding it from
the staff of life, simply because it is the fashion to
have our bread made of the finest flour that it may
be white instead of dark.
" It is estimated that a healthy child consumes
half a barrel of flour in a year, and if this be fine
white flour the child is denied twenty pounds a
year of that portion of the grain which contains
the proper materials for bones and teeth. This
deficiency of the mineral element in the food
causes the teeth to be comparatively soft and chalky
in their structure, and the result is, in this country,
where fine flour is principally used for bread, there
is not one in twenty without more or less decayed
teeth before they have passed the morning of life."
Flour from the whole grain of wheat, as pre-
pared to-day, is very different from the old-fash-
ioned u Graham flour, " though still retaining the
name.
It contains all the mineral elements, but the outer
portions of the grain (in which these elements are
found, and which is separated and rejected by the
" bolting " or sifting process which gives the fine
white flour in general use) are so finely ground,
and so thoroughly incorporated with the whiter
22 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
portions or heart of the berry (which contains no
gluten, but only starch) as to change only the
color of the flour, while making it sweet and pleas-
ant to the taste, and without any of the unpleasant
coarseness of the olden methods which incorpo-
rated the bran in coarse flakes, repugnant to all
delicate palates and indigestible to many stomachs.
The color of the bread made from the " Graham
flour " of to-day is no more objectionable than that
imparted to the finest white flour by the sugar,
eggs, spices and other ingredients used in making
cakes, which are never rejected because of their
color, whatever may be said of their digestibility,
or rather their indigestibility.
Use " Graham flour," then, for your bread, your
biscuits, and such plain cakes and gingerbread as
alone are admissible for children, or for yourself
either, if you would have perfect health.
Above all, " Graham gems' 9 for breakfast, in-
stead of hot white biscuit, battercakes, etc. These
can only be properly baked in the cast-iron gem-
pans, which come in sets of from eight to twelve
shallow cups, joined together in one pan. This
should be placed in the oven to heat, previous to
mixing the batter.
For the batter use only fresh "Graham flour "
and cold water, with a little salt ; no lard or butter,
but plenty of u elbow-grease," and no yeast-powder
or soda. Mix the batter rather thin, and stir rap-
idly and thoroughly till it is in a foam ; then drop
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 23
it quickly into the hot pans, and place immediately
in a quick oven, and you will have a light, sweet,
toothsome puff, which can be eaten with impunity
by the direst dyspeptic.
If your grocer cannot supply you with such flour
as I have described, order " The Best Amber Gra-
ham Flour "from the " Cascade Mills'' of " F.
Schumacher, " Akron, Ohio.
It is preferable not to have a large quantity at
once, as in warm weather it readily generates small
white worms and little black weavils. Get your
neighbor to join you in ordering a barrel, and then
you will benefit them as well as yourself.
If fine white flour must be used, the nutritive
elements, lost in the bran, can be in a degree re-
stored by the use of Prof. Horsford's " Self-raising
Bread Preparation " in place of the ordinary yeast
and u baking powders'' or the old-fashioned
" Soda and Cream Tartar."
The former is put up in two small packages ;
one of chemically pure bi-carbonate of soda, the
other a combination of phosphoric acid with lime
and magnesia — the essential constituents of tooth-
substance. Each package of one dozen contains
the proper measure and instructions for use. It
loses its value and "leavening" properties with
age, and should therefore be purchased only from
reliable first-class grocers. The two packages are
combined in u Horsford's Phosphatic Baking-
powder," but this deteriorates very rapidly, and
24 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
should only be used when known to be fresh
from the manufacturers, at the Rumford Chemical
Works, Rhode Island.
Oatmeal is also an invaluable article of diet, as
a source of bone and tooth food.
" Hecker's partly-cooked oatmeal " is to be found
in every first-class grocery.
A "double-boiler" is almost indispensable for
properly cooking not only oatmeal, but also grits
or hominy, which are also good tooth-food, though
not equal to whole wheat or oatmeal.
A porcelain receptacle, suspended in the tin
boiler containing the boiling water, renders burn-
ing impossible even to the most careless cook, pre-
vents all waste, and does away with the necessity
of stirring ; once placed over the fire, it can cook
undisturbed until wanted ; indeed, " the longer, the
better."
Now, if your diet consists largely of milk and
eggs, potatoes and good meat, with abundance of
ripe fruits, supplemented by " Graham bread in
its different forms, and a good bowl of "oatmeal
and milk " for your breakfast, every day, you will
not fare very hard, while your system will be well
supplied with lime-salts for both yourself and your
babe.
If the " Graham" bread should prove really un-
palatable at first, you can begin by mixing with
your white flour one-third or even one-fourth the
quantity of " Graham," and thus accustom yourself
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 25
to it gradually. Even so small a proportion will
carry with it some benefit, and you will soon learn
to like it as well, if not to prefer it to all white
flour. Mere taste, however, is a matter of small
consideration, compared with the great interests at
stake.
There are some highly-favored portions of our
country where these precautions are rendered un-
necessary by kind nature. In Middle Tennessee,
West Virginia, and the " blue-grass region " of
Kentucky, the soil, and consequently the vegeta-
tion and well-water, is so strongly impregnated
with lime-salts as to give a large supply of this ele-
ment to all articles of food, both animal and vege-
table, and consequently a corresponding superiority
of tooth and bone-structure to both the people and
the live-stock.
It is well known that the finest horses and cattle
in the world graze upon the rich pastures of the
limestone soil of Kentucky, and that her tall, strong
men, with their fine teeth, are recognized wher-
ever they go.
LETTER VI.
OTHER CHEMICAL ELEMENTS.
We have hitherto looked only to diet for a sup-
ply of lime-salts.
If you are boarding, or, from any other circum-
stances, cannot control your diet, or if, from long-
established habits or constitutional disease, your
26 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
system fails to assimilate the lime-salts as presented
in this form, and your teeth grow sensitive, ache
and decay, from the drain upon them in your pres-
ent condition, you may be obliged to resort to the
doctor and the drug-store for the same thing in
less palatable form.
There are various preparations of the inorganic
lime-salts, designed to effect the same results and
supplement the above regime, and which have
been found very beneficial when the stomach is too
weak or the appetite too poor to render foods
available.
Dr. Abbot, of New York, says he finds, where
children have a repugnance to Graham bread, oat-
meal, etc. (which will, however, seldom be the
case if the Graham flour before mentioned is prop-
erly prepared, and if good oatmeal be given with
plenty of milk), that the " Syrup of Lacto-Phos-
phate of Lime " is to be recommended. He says :
" I have given this to families of several children,
sometimes at intervals, for years. It is the simplest
form for easy assimilation, and the children will
take it just as readily as they will lemonade. I
have had mothers under my care, from seven
months before the birth of their children, and ad-
ministered the lacto-phosphate for weeks at a time,
for two or three months. I have had hundreds of
cases, in which the remedy has been used with
fair results.
Another eminent medical writer says :
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 27
u During pregnancy many women suffer from
caries of the teeth and dental neuralgia. The cal-
careous salts required for the development of the
foetal skeleton must be supplied by means of an
increased ingestion of these materials on the part
of the mother. In default of this augmented con-
sumption, the nutrition of the maternal bony tissues
is affected, and dental caries results. Many preg-
nant women have a morbid appetite for calcareous
and other mineral substances. Preparations of
calcium, especially the phosphates and hypo-phos-
phates, should, in view of the facts mentioned, be
administered to enceinte females suffering from
the above dental troubles."
Dr. Prothro finds " Winchester's Hypo-phos-
phites of Lime and Soda " very beneficial, while
Dr. J. R. Walker, of New Orleans, after having
experimented largely with these chemical prepar-
ations, finds that he obtains equally satisfactory
results from the free use of lime-water alone.
Of course, however, you will consult both your
dentist and your physician before resorting to the
above medicinal preparations.
In this consideration of the elements of tooth-
substance, we have devoted our attention exclu-
sively to calcium, not only because it constitutes
by far the largest portion of tooth-substance, the
remaining elements bearing only a very small pro-
portion to the whole, but also because they are
found in meat, milk, eggs, and other such com-
28 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
mon articles of diet, so that you are scarcely liable
to fail in receiving an adequate supply.
Hydrogen and oxygen as combined in water,
furnish three-fourths of the weight of the human
body.
Nitrogen is another essential element ; the va-
rious organs of the body and the blood containing
at least seventeen per cent.
Starch, sugar, gum and butter contain no nitro-
gen, and therefore cannot, either alone or combined,
long sustain life. Arrow-root, corn-starch, and
other similar starch preparations so often used for
infant's food, make only fat, and can only really
nourish the child when they are prepared with
milk. It is on record that an English mother,
some years ago, was sentenced to death for the
murder of her child, because, in spite of the
warnings of her physician, she persisted in giving
it only that starchy form of food, and the child died
of inanition. I myself nearly lost one of my own
children through ignorance on this point.
The babe was reduced to such a point of inani-
tion that it was given up as hopeless by physicians,
and was only cured by the persistent use of bran
baths and bran poultices, from which nourish-
ment was absorbed by the pores of the skin.
Let your diet, therefore, be selected with refer-
ence to these principles.
The body being made up of many elements
differing in chemical properties, textures which are
so chemically different require different aliments
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 29
for their nourishment, a considerable variety of
food being absolutely necessary for the preserva-
tion of health and life.
As the same nutritive element is usually found
in different articles of food, often both animal and
vegetable (with the exception of tooth elements) ,
select that which your own experience has proved
to be best adapted to yourself in regard to diges-
tibility ; where neither has any decided advan-
tage in this regard, then consult your taste and
your convenience.
Let your food be thoroughly masticated, and
well mixed with saliva, before it goes to the
stomach, that it may be the more readily per-
meated by and acted upon by the gastric juice.
As the saliva is secreted by the glands of the
mouth, to be mixed with the food in its prepara-
tion, by mastication, for the stomach, so the
gastric j trice is secreted by the glands of the
stomach, and mixed with the food, in digestion, to
prepare it for passing into the circulation, to build
up and nourish the body. If the food is not prop-
erly prepared in the mouth, by mastication and
insalivation, the gastric juice cannot so readily per-
meate and mix with it, and digestion is rendered
more difficult.
Aid your digestive powers by exercise and fresh
air.
Regulate your meals so that all that is eaten at
one time may be digested and passed into the sys-
tem before a fresh supply is sent to the stomach.
30 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
The action of the gastric juice or digestive fluid
of the stomach reduces the food to a succession of
conditions or states. . -
If fresh food is sent to the stomach, after its
work has been going on a little while, the work
has to re-commence for the new food, and that
which was already partly digested is almost certain
to sour and spoil the whole mass. This is one
of the most fruitful sources of indigestion and
dyspepsia.
To use a homely illustration, it is much as though
you were to put a cake in the oven to bake, and
when half done take it out to stir in some forgotten
ingredient !
Bear in mind also these general principles :
" Solid food is sooner digested than liquid.
" Vegetable food requires for its digestion more
time than animal food.
"Animal diet yields a larger amount of nour-
ishment than vegetable.
" Bulk should be in proportion to the nutrient
principle.
" Too much rich food overloads and oppresses
the system, and clogs the organs in the perform-
ance of their several functions, while the circu-
lating fluid becomes too thick and stimulating, and
disease inevitably follows."*
* For the facts contained in these two chapters on
"Food Principles and Chemical Elements," I am in-
debted to that most valuable treatise, "Food and Diet"
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 3 1
LETTER VII.
EFFECTS OF DISEASE UPON TOOTH-STRUCTURE.
Having learned how to provide your blood with
the chemical elements essential to the various tis-
sues of the body, and especially those necessary
for the formation, nutrition, and growth of the
teeth, we reach another important point in the care
of those organs before their eruption : and that
is, the effect of various diseases upon tooth-
structure.
The rapid heart-beat, and the quick throbbing of
the pulse of the infant, are a certain index to the
rapid changes taking place in the growing tissues ;
any interruption in this growth must leave its im-
press upon those tissues. Especially is this true
of the teeth, which, like the hair and nails, being
dermal appendages (or of the nature of skin),
are peculiarly liable to be injuriously affected by
skin diseases, accompanied with much fever. You
know how dry and lustreless the hair becomes
during sickness, and how often it dies and falls
from the scalp, after protracted fevers. You have
also, perhaps, noticed that there are grooves and
furrows and white spots on the nails during and
by Jonathan Pereira, M.D., F.R.S., etc., a physician of
great experience, a most learned and scientific man, and
a highly successful writer. His work summarizes the
investigations of Liebig, Berzelius, Bischoff, and other
eminent chemists, and constitutes a reliable vade mecum
for amateur investigators.
32 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
after severe illness. The hair and nails are grow-
ing rapidly all the time, and therefore these effects
are promptly visible, while the teeth, after erup-
tion, being extremely dense and hard, changes in
their texture are slow and less visible to the eye
as they effect the internal and less dense portions,
rendering them extremely sensitive and liable to
decay.
But before the birth of the child, while the teeth
are growing, such forms of disease as scarlet fever,
small-pox and measles, in the mother, or suffered
by the child itself after birth, but previous to the
eruption of the teeth, leave their impress upon
those organs as unfailingly as upon the hair and
nails in after life.
Another consideration is, that while disease lasts
there will be little or no. appetite, little food will be
taken, and even that small quantity will not be
properly digested ; no new material being fur-
nished the growing teeth, their development will
be checked, and, as the final result, the forming
enamel will be marred by grooves, furrows, or
white spots, showing after the eruption of the teeth
the unfailing and indelible marks of "interrupted
nutrition." Guard yourself, therefore, carefully
from all exposure to this class of diseases, before
your child is born — if you are not exempt from
them by a previous attack, and even then a " sec-
ond attack " is by no means impossible — and
shield your child even more carefully, until after
the teeth are all erupted.
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 33
The pitted and u honeycombed " appearance of
the teeth, resulting from these causes, is not only
unsightly in itself, but is a sure precursor of early
and rapid decay.
There is another point that is worthy of serious
consideration, and that is the possible effects of
vaccination upon the teeth. One hundred years
ago, when this practice was first introduced, as the
greatest possible boon to afflicted humanity, little
was known regarding the development of the teeth.
The question under consideration was, of course,
not then raised ; in fact, it is only of late years that
it has become a matter of investigation. But from
what is known of the effects of vaccination upon
the general system, and from the similarity of these
effects, in a circumscribed degree, to those of small-
pox, measles and scarlet fever, in the accompany-
ing "blood poisoning ,, — the injurious effects of
the latter class of diseases upon the teeth being so
positively known, it would seem to be only a
proper measure of precaution to postpone vaccina-
tion until the teeth are beyond any possible danger.
The liability to small-pox, for a child, surrounded
by proper sanitary conditions, and under a mother's
watchful care, is a contingency so remote and
doubtful, while the danger from vaccination (if
any) is direct, immediate and avoidable, that it is,
as I said, only a wise measure of precaution to
postpone vaccination until the teeth have passed the
danger-point; and this is — when?
34 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
Certainly not until after the enamel of the last
permanent tooth is completed, and the wisdom-
teeth erupted ; for the pitting and honeycombing
of even the wisdom-teeth, though not offending the
eye, as in the case of the front teeth, nevertheless
renders them liable to rapid decay.
And even then, can we say that it is consistent
with prudence, or that we have the right volun-
tarily to expose the teeth (and the whole system as
well) to the disastrous effects of interrupted nutri-
tion? For, as long as life lasts, in the teeth, as in
all other portions of the body, nutrition is carried
on through the circulation — worn-out particles
being removed and new supplied — and while dis-
ease lasts, there is little or no nutrition supplied to
any portion of the body ; and in no portion of the
system are the results of disease more disastrous
than in the teeth.
There are also other diseases, as diabetes, con-
sumption, scrofula, and certain other inherited
taints of blood, which make their unfailing mark
upon the teeth ; unmistakable to the well-informed
dentist, but outside of our field of inquiry.
Rev. Dr. Kirkus, of Baltimore, in a recent essay
on Woman, says : u By far the most important in-
cident of marriage is motherhood, and no doubt
many girls are allowed to grow to maturity, and
even to become engaged to be married, without any
proper warning or instruction as to what mother-
hood involves. The incredible ignorance of some
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 35
young wives on such subjects amounts almost to
idiocy. "
If more, however, was known and understood by
young people, and taken into consideration before
marriage, much entailed suffering and misery
might be avoided, for it is in this sense that " the
sins of the fathers are visited upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation."
LETTER VIII.
DENTITION AND DISEASE.
We will now pass over the intervening time
until, when, having given birth to your baby, and
having nursed it faithfully at the breast, you are
feeling more or less the effects of this drain upon
your system, and are looking forward to the time
when the little pearly teeth making their appear-
ance will show that nature is preparing the way for
other food.
No exact rule can be laid down as to the time
of their appearance, as it varies with the general
growth of the child.
There are on record cases where children have
been born with teeth in the mouth — Louis XIV.,
of France, having had two ; others who have lived
to old age without ever having any teeth at all ;
others, again, who have never exchanged the little
36 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
baby-teeth for the larger permanent ones ; and still
others who have cut their first baby-teeth at ages
varying from twelve to twenty-six years ! These,
however, are abnormal irregularities with which I
hope your children will never be troubled.
As a general rule, the baby begins to " cut its
teeth" (and the first two appear in the centre of
the lower jaw) at about six months old — four
months being unusually early, and nine months
very late. If dentition is perfectly regular, the
teeth will appear in pairs, alternately, below first
and then the corresponding teeth above, in the fol-
lowing order :
Two in the centre of the lower jaw, and two
above, called central incisors ; followed by one
adjoining on either side, called lateral incisors.
These eight " cutting teeth " will appear notched,
like the edge of a saw, when they first come
through, this form facilitating their eruption, but
this will soon wear down ; they will usually all
take their places within a short time.
Then there will be a period of rest ; after which
the work will recommence far back in the little
jaw, and a jaw-tooth — double-tooth, " grinder," —
or, as properly called, molar tooth, will appear,
one on each side, first below and then above.
There will now, of course, be twelve teeth, and
the baby be probably from twelve to fifteen months
old.
After a rest from the serious effort of pushing
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 37
forward these four large square teeth, the vacant
spaces are next filled in with the pointed " dog-
teeth/ ' canines, or as popularly known, u stomach-
teeth " below r and " eye-teeth" above.
By the end of the second, or early in the third
year, the full set of twenty baby-teeth, " milk-
teeth," or deciduous teeth should be completed by
the appearance back of each of the first jaw-teeth,
of another grinder or molar.
The eight incisors and the first four molars gen-
erally make their appearance without any serious
difficulty if both mother and child have been kept
in a state of good general health, by means of
proper diet, suitable and sufficient exercise, bath-
ing, and plenty of fresh air.
A child ought not to suffer any more when cut-
ting its teeth than do the young of domestic ani-
mals ; the process is the same in both cases.
Many diseases undoubtedly may, and often do
occur, during the process of dentition, but it does
not by any means follow that teething is the cause
any more than it is the result of these diseases. It
is, nevertheless, a sad fact that children frequently
suffer seriously when they are cutting their stomach
or eye teeth, and that the time for the appearance
of these teeth is looked forward to with grave
apprehensions.
Now why is this? These teeth, having but one
point to cut through the gum, it would seem as
though the process should be an easy one, com-
38 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
pared with the eruption of the large grinders, and
the child being older and stronger should be better
prepared for it.
Now there are usually two causes in operation
about this time which, singly or together, to the
eye of a mother appear to have much to do with
causing the sickness and even death of so many
children at this period of their dentition.
One is, that the four sharp little teeth above and
below can bite so hard and cause the mother so
much pain, and the four grinders are apparently so
well able to do good work upon food (being un-
doubtedly designed for this work ultimately), that
they are put to work too soon, and the change from
the mother's milk made without sufficient gradual
preparation of the delicate stomach.
The baby wants to bite, and instead of being
given some smooth, hard substance, it is given
crackers and sweet-cakes to bite upon. This
starchy food sours upon the stomach, and gives
colics, indigestion and diarrhoea; or — even when
it is apparently well-digested — containing no min-
eral elements of nutrition, fails to enter the blood,
the babies, even when fat and apparently well-
nourished for a time, rapidly losing flesh and sink-
ing under trivial disorders — victims to mineral
inanition, not to teething.
Another efficient cause is, that as the baby is
now creeping about on the floor, or even trying to
stand alone by a chair, the long clothing, which
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 39
has hitherto protected its limbs so thoroughly, is
now discarded ; and while the upper portions of
the body are still well protected, the lower limbs
are almost bare, except little short socks and tiny
slippers on the chubby feet, with nothing whatever
but short, flowing skirts between the top of the
socks — which are half the time kicked off, too —
and a garment which is but too often wet and
cold.
The lower extremities being chilled, the chill
strikes to the bowels, and diarrhoea ensues. Es-
pecially is this the case in summer. Let the cloth-
ing be as light as you choose, in hot weather, but
let it be of uniform thickness, and there will be
less " summer complaint " and fewer deaths from
teething.
We will now consider the more legitimate troub-
les connected with teething :
The teeth in their development necessarily crowd
and press against the tender gums from within ;
this naturally causes more or less swelling, redness
and inflammation, especially in the case of the
upper teeth. This irritation causes an increased
flow of saliva, which is rendered more acid than in
its normal state, by the abstraction of its alkaline
elements to supply the increased demand of the
system in developing the teeth. This should be
corrected by proper diet and the free use of lime-
water, which is prescribed by Dr. Wm. S. Stewart
in his highly successful treatment of cholera in-
fantum.
40 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
This acid saliva, in such large quantities, if not
counteracted by this simple alkaline treatment,
becomes one of the chief causes of the " diarrhoea
of teething/' so often fatal if not held in check.
A certain degree of looseness of the bowels
should be no source of apprehension, as it is advan-
tageous rather than otherwise, in reducing inflam-
mation, when kept within bounds by judicious diet,
both on the part of the mother and of the child
itself, when the mother's milk is supplemented by
other food. Constipation is much more to be
dreaded, and must be promptly counteracted.
The inflammation of the gums — if dentition be
somewhat irregular, and a number of teeth are
crowding up at once — may be very severe, and
produce fever. Too much blood may also be
determined to the head, and this, at a period of life
when the brain is very large in proportion, is some-
times a cause of convulsions, when preventive
means are not employed. Lancing the gums, at
the proper moment, is the certain, safe and simple
remedy, in the hands of an experienced dentist,
who knows just when, where, and how to do it.
Another source of intense suffering to many a
tender babe is earache, a sympathetic result of this
inflammation, branches from the same nerve sup-
plying both the teeth and the ear. . .
The earache, even of a very young babe, is
readily recognized by the way in which it rests its
head cautiously against the nurse's breast ; its aver-
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 41
sion to motion, the slightest movement seeming to
increase its suffering, and its pathetic way of car-
rying the little hand to the ear, involuntarily point-
ing out the seat of pain. This form of earache is
relieved by the same simple remedy — lancing the
swollen, inflamed gums, just at the right time, by
a competent dentist or physician.
LETTER IX.
CARE OF THE TEETH, TEMPORARY AND PERMA-
NENT, IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH.
As you have cared for your baby's teeth, from
the very inception of the germs in the dental groove,
throughout the period of their formation and
growth, so you must continue to care for them
after their eruption.
You must see that they are supplied with nutri-
ent elements to complete the growth of the root,
and to keep them in good condition, for — as has
been said before — in the teeth, as in every other
portion of the human frame, worn-out particles are
removed, and new supplies required, as long as
life lasts.
The baby's teeth, when they first emerge from
the coral gums, are like little pearls, white and
shining, clean and sound ; but they will not long
remain so, if watchful care be not bestowed upon
them.
42 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
From the moment the first teeth appear, give
them your personal, especial care. Wash the
little mouth carefully, and see that no particles of
milk or other food remain lodged in the soft tissues
of the lips and cheeks, under the tongue, or around
the little teeth, to sour and produce disease.
Wrap a piece of soft linen around your finger
and rub the teeth carefully and gently ; for when
they first emerge they have but little root, and are
held in place only by the elastic tissues of the gums
and the pressure of the tongue and lips ; as the
roots grow longer, the sockets are built up around
them, to retain them firmly in place.
And right here, let me give you a word of caution
against allowing the formation of the habit of
"sucking the thumb" or fingers, no matter how
much it may appear to help in " keeping the baby
quiet," for there are at least two ways in which this
habit is injurious. The teeth not being as yet firmly
held in place, the constant pressure of the fingers is
liable to push them into irregular positions, inter-
fering with distinct speech as well as with good
looks ; and again wind is swallowed, in the fruit-
less sucking, and the stomach is unduly distended,
causing colics and other disturbances. Especially
is this practice liable to affect the regularity of the
permanent teeth, if the habit is allowed to become
fixed ; and even the nose is sometimes permanently
disfigured by the hooking of a finger over it, to hold
the thumb in place during sleep.
ON THE CAKE OF THE TEETH. 43
As soon as the eight incisors are all in place,
procure a soft camel's hair baby-tooth-brush, and
begin that regular, systematic care, which alone
will preserve them intact.
Brush them, from the gum towards the cutting
edge ; downward for the upper teeth, and upward
for the lower teeth ; never brush them in the con-
trary direction, as that will inevitably crowd the
gum back, and expose the neck of the tooth, which
is not protected by enamel ; and never brush them
crossways, as it is of no benefit to the teeth, and
will not remove the food from the interstices, but
rather pack it in.
When the molars appear, brush them in the
same way, all around the crown ; and also rotate
the brush on the grinding surface, to clean out the
wrinkles in the enamel, which is frequently incom-
plete in the centre, minute fissures sometimes
existing which allow acids from decomposing food
to penetrate to the dentine and cause decay.
Care should be taken to remove every particle of
food from around and between the teeth, every
time anything is eaten, by at least thoroughly rins-
ing the mouth with clear water, to which should be
added a little lime-water, if acid fruits, lemonade,
etc., have been used.
This affords an argument for regularity in eat-
ing, for children who are eating something, all
day long, will never have clean teeth. The child
should also be provided with a tooth-pick (and
44 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
taught to keep it always within reach, after solid
food is allowed, such as is liable to get wedged in
between the teeth) . Use also a strand of floss-silk,
or a light rubber ring, to pass between the teeth,
from the gum down, to dislodge all particles of
food.
The teeth should be brushed, as described, the
last thing at night, to remove any possible rem-
nants of food, and the first thing in the morning, to
remove the deposits from the fluids of the mouth
which accumulate during the quiet hours of rest,
this accumulation being prevented during the day
by the motion of the lips, tongue and cheeks.
The same care and treatment that will preserve
the baby's teeth, will also preserve them at all
ages ; but you must care for your baby's teeth your-
self, and only very cautiously and gradually entrust
this important duty to the child itself, and then,
only under your own eye, for a long time, until
you are sure that it will be regularly, thoroughly,
and systematically attended to.
Especially in sickness should the greatest care be
taken of the teeth, for then the fluids of the mouth
are in an unhealthy condition, and liable to prove
injurious to the teeth, they themselves, as integral
organs of the human body, participating in the
effects of the general disease, suffering from lack of
nourishment, and wanting in power of resistance.
The condition of the teeth, after a long illness,
usually attributed to strong inedicines, is very
largely due to their neglect at that time.
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. zj 5
The homceopathic patient is apt to find his teeth
in fully as bad a condition as is the allopathic sick
man, if no precautions are taken in either case.
If the patient is unable to bear a soft brush (and
never use a hard one under any circumstances),
the mouth must be frequently rinsed with clear
water, with lime-water, or if the mouth is very foul
and the breath offensive, with disinfectants or anti-
septics, as, for instance, listerine, or boracic acid
solution. A soft rag wrapped round the finger will
do much to remove injurious deposits. If con-
centrated acids, as elixir vitriol, or the tincture
7nuriate of iron, are used as medicines, they will
only corrode the enamel if left in contact with it.
A neutralizing mouth-wash, thoroughly used, will
be more effective in preventing bad effects than the
use of glass tubes, etc., without the wash ; though
both are better than either alone. Where the
saliva is acid from disease, prepared chalk, rubbed
in round the necks of the teeth and between them,
and left there through the night, is very beneficial ;
rinsing with common salt and water is also
purifying.
Other conditions of the system, giving peculiar
odors to the breath, recognizable by the physician
or nurse, if not by the patient himself, as that of
ammonia (to which is attributed white decay, and
deposits of tartar, and requiring preventive washes
of dilute acids, as well as acids internally) ; or the
odor of sulphuretted hydrogen (supposed to be
46 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
a symptom of causes which produce black decay,
and demanding washes of chlorate of potash, or of
salycilic acid), come within the province of the
physician, who should be familiar with these signs
and consider the effects of both disease and medi-
cines upon the teeth, as well as upon the other
organs of the body, and warn both patients and
parents how to prevent the ravages which the den-
tist will otherwise have to repair.
LETTER X.
WEANING. INFANT'S FOOD.
There is one important point that we have not
considered, in connection with the eruption of the
baby-teeth, and that is : What food is best suited
to the infant's stomach, during the transition from
mother's milk to a regular diet of solid food ?
The first of all foods is, of course, milk. It has
been ascertained, by chemical experiment, that the
difference between pure, unadulterated cow's milk
and the milk of the human mother lies mainly in
the larger proportion of sugar in the latter, and the
smaller proportion of caseine, cow's milk forming
a more tough and indigestible curd. The most
eminent of the more recent authorities on the sub-
ject of Infant Diet, however, authorize the free use
of cow's milk, if it can be made a matter of certainty
that it is pure and unadulterated.
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 47
Milk from the Jersey and Alderney breeds is too
rich in cream for the infant stomach, the Ayrshire
and grade cows furnishing a fluid more nearly
resembling human milk. Milk for an infant should
be always from the same cow, which should be
young and healthy, supplied with plenty of good
pasturage, and sweet clean feed and pure water,
and kept quiet and gentle and in good condition.
When such milk as this cannot be obtained, and it
is rarely possible in large cities (and not always
even in the country), Dr. E. N. Chapman, in his
valuable work, entitled " Infant Diet" says that
the nearest approach to the mother's milk, ki with
the addition of the valuable properties of lime," is
prepared as follows :
" Take of condensed milk two teaspoonfuls ;
water, twenty-four teaspoonfuls ; lime-water, four
teaspoonfuls ; powdered sugar, half a teaspoonful ;
salt, a small pinch.
" Having brought the water to a blood heat,
measure the milk accurately by dipping it out with
one spoon and pouring it into another ; and having
mixed and stirred the several ingredients together,
the quantity for one feeding is prepared.
" If milk fresh from the cow be used instead of
condensed milk, it should, if to a certainty unadul-
terated, be diluted in one-half water, and then the
lime-water and other ingredients added in the
same proportions as before given.
" If a bottle is used, fit it with a black rubber
48 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
nipple instead of the poisonous white (which is
whitened with arsenic), and draw a half teaspoon-
ful of spirits, diluted with water, through the rub-
ber after each feeding ; this prevents fermentation,
but the nipple should be renewed frequently, as it
is almost impossible to keep it clean and sweet."
Of the different ingredients here combined he
says :
" A long series of experiments warrant the fol-
lowing conclusions :
" The constituents of milk are blended together
in condensed milk, as when fresh milk has been
scalded {not boiled}.
" Condensed milk, owing to this change, and the
removal of a portion of the caseine in the process
of condensation, is better adapted to the stomach of
an infant than milk fresh from the cow.
" Both plain and condensed milk are, by the
addition of a proper proportion of lime-water,
closely assimilated to mother's milk, the caseine
being held in emulsion until the milk has been
intimately mixed with the gastric juice, and then it
is precipitated in such a state of minute division as
to be readily digested.
" Salt aids in the stability of the emulsion and
in the solution of caseine, and in some way, not
well understood, promotes digestion, absorption
and assimilation. Sugar of milk is also another
essential element. "
Dr. Chapman is very decided in his opinion of the
value of lime-water, saying in another place :
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 49
41 Lime-water and milk is not only food and
medicine combined for the infant, but is equally
invaluable later in life when the functions of diges-
tion and assimilation have been seriously impaired.
A stomach taxed by gluttony, irritated by improper
food, inflamed by alcohol, enfeebled by disease, or
otherwise unfitted for its duties, as is shown by
the various symptoms attendant upon indigestion,
dyspepsia, diarrhoea, dysentery and fever, will
resume its work, and do it energetically, on an
exclusive diet of lime-water and milk. A goblet
of cow's milk, to which four tablespoonfuls of lime-
water have been added, will agree with any person,
however objectionable the plain article may be ;
will be friendly to the stomach when all other food
is oppressive, and will be digested when all else
fails to afford nourishment.
"The blood being thin, the nerves weak, the
nutrition poor, the secretions defective, and the
excretions insufficient, nature here offers a remedy
as common as the air, almost as cheap as water.
In it all the elements of nutrition are so prepared
by nature as to be readily adapted to the infant or
the adult stomach, and so freighted with healing vir-
tues as to work a cure when drugs are worse than
useless. "
Oatmeal furnishes a valuable article of infant diet,
prepared as follows : One cup of oatmeal to a quart
of water, soaked over night and then boiled until
it thickens perceptibly ; then strain, sweeten, and
50 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
add milk, prepared as above, in equal proportions at
first, but gradually reducing the milk, as the babe
becomes accustomed to it.
•If the child is inclined to constipation, " Nestle' s
Mother's Milk Substitute — Lacteous Farina" —
will be found of inestimable value.
When the baby wants to bite, give it oatmeal
or Graham crackers, instead of sweet-cakes or fine
flour biscuit.
The juice from a tough strip of lean, raw beef-
steak, long enough to be held firmly while sucked,
is easy of digestion and very nourishing ; soup, too,
is good, but it should be a clear broth, not too
strong, and without vegetables, though it may be
whitened with rice, or barley, and strained.
A little later, eggs are suitable ; also sweet or
Irish potatoes, finely mashed and made of the con-
sistency of cream, with milk and lime-water.
Gradually add other articles of light, easy diges-
tion and good nutritive qualities, including ripe
fruits, accustoming it to the solid food necessary for
the exercise and strengthening of the teeth them-
selves after the molars appear.
Do not be anxious to have your baby too fat, for
fat is not always^fe^. Abnormal fat is as much
out of place, and as little to^be desired, in a healthy
baby, as is zfat man or &fat horse.
After all the twenty teeth of the first set are in
place, govern the diet of your child by the general
rules laid down in the preceding chapters for the
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 5 1
regulation of your own diet, and you cannot go
astray.
Another important point to be borne in mind
with regard to this period of life, is that children
require food more frequently than older persons.
At this period of rapid growth and development,
all the functions of life — respiration, circulation
and digestion — are proportionately rapid, as indi-
cated by the heart-beat and the pulse.
Pereira says: u In children the function of nu-
trition is more active than in adults. They have
not merely to repair the daily waste — that is, to
renovate their tissues — but to grow. Their func-
tions of circulation and respiration are, therefore,
more active than in after life, and they require
food — that is, substances to support the process of
respiration — to be administered at shorter inter-
vals."
Food containing large proportions of carbon and
hydrogen furnish the elements of respiration or
serve as " fuel to be burnt in the lungs. "
Children therefore require a larger proportion of
such food than adults. Arrow-root, tapioca, sago,
and other starch-foods, supply the elements of
respiration, or fuel for the lungs, only, and although
important for this purpose, must be supplemented
with food containing nitrogen — as milk and the
cereal grains, wheat, oatmeal, etc. — to furnish the
elements for the growth of bone and muscle. But
I have already endeavored to make this plain to
52 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
you in a preceding chapter. The same general
rules that were laid down for the regulation of your
own diet, should govern that of your child.
With systematic diet, regular meals (five a day,
gradually reduced to three), fresh air, and suitable
dress, the baby, unless exposed to contagious or
subject to hereditary diseases, may be kept in
health, and the baby-teeth preserved intact, until
nature is ready to replace them with the permanent
set.
LETTER XI.
WHY THE BABY-TEETH SHOULD BE PRESERVED.
We will now consider why it is a matter of first
importance that the baby-teeth — which are all
eventually to be replaced by larger, stronger, better
ones — should nevertheless be preserved in all their
integrity until, having done their duty, nature re-
moves them, one by one (as their successors are
ready to come forward) , by a most beautiful process
— one of the most wonderful in the human econ-
omy — namely, the absorption (or gradual wasting
away) of the roots. The crowns then detach them-
selves from the gum and fall from the mouth,
having fulfilled their mission without ever having
caused a moment's pain or suffering to the happy
child where the teeth are naturally of good mate-
rial and have been properly cared for.
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 53
How different is the case with the teeth of those
unfortunate children whose mothers, through igno-
rance or neglect, allow the little pearls to lie em-
bedded in the foul remains of decaying food, cor-
roded by the gases from a stomach overloaded with
unsuitable, indigestible, unmasticated food, until
they are absolutely eaten away, entailing the most
cruel tortures of toothache, day after day and night
after night, until, amid shrieks of agony, the teeth
are extracted.
When the baby-teeth loosen and fall out, in
nature's own time, they have no roots left, but
when they are extracted prematurely, the roots are
long and firmly attached, and in the case of the
first molars (so often mistaken for baby-teeth and
allowed to decay as such), even larger and more
divergent than in the other permanent teeth.
The tooth, being frail from decay, offers no firm
hold to the instruments of the dentist, and as it is
usually supposed that anybody can full a baby-
tootk, the young, tender jaw-bone itself is often
injured in these attempts at premature extraction.
The loss to the child of the organs of mastication
is also a serious one.
The stomach being overtaxed by unmasticated,
indigestible food, the general health must suffer.
Assimilation being imperfect, nutrition is impaired,
and the growth and development of all the organs
checked.
Dr. Thomas Gaddes, editor of the English Den-
54 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
tal Record, says: " To the child whose diet con-
sists in part of solid food, the temporary teeth are
as valuable in preparing that food for digestion as
are the permanent ones to the adult. Indeed, it is
more important that the child should have the
agents necessary for performing well the first part
of the digestive process, for if a child — say four
years old — be deprived of a few of its organs of
mastication, and if it be allowed solid food that it
cannot masticate, it is not unfeasible that by the
greater excitability of its nervous system in early
life, its delicate digestive apparatus should be de-
ranged, and diarrhoea, convulsions, or other reflex
disturbances be set up, as well as the nutrition of
the child interfered with."
Dr. Gaddes also refers the great loss of infantile
life, as recorded in the tables of mortality, to the
use of improper food, imperfectly prepared for
digestion by defective teeth, or through the want
of these organs. He says :
" By so much precisely as the power of mastica-
tion is reduced, and its proper performance hin-
dered, by so much will the process of nutrition,
and healthy, vigorous, perfect structural formation
be impaired, as the ultimate result."
If the decay is allowed to go on until suppura-
tion takes place, and an abscess (or gum-boil) is
formed, the growing germs of the permanent teeth
are liable to be injured (or the growth of the roots
entirely checked if they are already well advanced
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 55
toward eruption), by the inflammation of the sur-
rounding tissues.
Decay being allowed to reach this point, the
" nerve" being destroyed, the tooth is dead, and
usually no further absorption of the root takes
place. It then becomes an obstacle in the way of
the new tooth, which is forced to make its way out
at some other point, inside or outside of the arch,
thus producing irregularity of the permanent teeth.
Another consideration with regard to the decay
of the deciduous teeth is the effect of their prema-
ture extraction upon the jaw itself, and the spaces
to be occupied by the permanent teeth.
After a tooth is extracted, nature has no further
use for the empty socket, as such, but, as it con-
tains valuable mineral elements, building materi-
als, it is soon taken down, as it was built up, cell
by cell, and the materials probably taken into the
circulation, to be used again in building up other
organs requiring the same elements — perhaps even
contributing to the growth of the permanent teeth
now rapidly advancing.
The teeth being held in their upright position
partly by the lateral pressure exerted by one against
the other, the bony walls of the socket of the lost
tooth having disappeared, the pressure from the
remaining teeth upon those adjoining the vacant
place meeting with no opposition, gradually crowd
them over into this space, which is sometimes thus
entirely obliterated.
56 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
When this occurs in several different places in
the mouth, the consequent contraction of the arch,
and loss of space, cannot fail to be disastrous to the
regularity of the permanent teeth.
If more teeth are removed from one side than
from the other, which is very apt to be the case,
the unresisted strain of the powerful muscles on
that side of the face will draw even the lips and
the nose to one side, producing absolute distortion
of the face, and marring its beauty forever.
Even if extraction be equal on both sides, the
consequent shrinkage will give an aged look to the
young face that is painful and unpleasant.
Thus arguments almost ad infinitum can be
urged for the care and preservation of the decidu-
ous teeth.
Let the minutest cavity of decay be, therefore,
filled promptly, no matter how young your child
may be when the little black speck shows itself.
LETTER XII.
FILLING THE BABY'S TEETH.
You will perhaps laugh and think I am joking,
if I tell you that one of my own children had a
tooth filled before he was a year old ! But it is
nevertheless a fact. The little fellow was about
nine months old when the "upper central inci-
sors " ( or first little upper teeth in the centre of
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 57
the jaw) came through. I soon noticed that one of
them was marred by a little round yellow spot on
its front face, near the cutting edge. In a few
weeks this formed a cavity of decay. Fearing the
toothache for my tender babe, when he was eleven
months old I seated myself in the chair of the den-
tist, with the baby sound asleep in my arms.
Holding the upper lip out of the way with my
finger, with keen instruments all the decayed por-
tions were removed so deftly that the babe never
stirred nor woke, and the cavity was filled with
"white filling," or cement.
The baby had the whooping-cough, however, at
the time, and being seized with a paroxysm during
the operation, the filling got wet before it had time
to harden, and did not prove durable.
At the age of thirteen months the tooth was
therefore filled again, this time with white alloy,
the baby being wide awake and sitting alone in the
big chair (with a little chair in it) apparently
enjoying the honor conferred upon him, and occa-
sionally demanding to u thpit," as he had seen done
by the preceding patient.
This preserved the tooth until the age of three
years, when the tooth having worn down from the
edge, the filling fell out. The cavity being white
and clean, no further decay having taken place, it
was again filled, this time with gold, which pre-
served it perfectly until it fell from the gums at the
proper time, with the root well absorbed.
58 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
As illustrating the effect that injuries to the first
teeth may have upon the second, I will add that the
permanent tooth which replaced that defective one
has a similar but white spot upon it, which, how-
ever, shows no tendency to decay, and is the only
blemish in the otherwise perfect full set of teeth of
a boy now (1883) fifteen years old, and in whose
case the system laid down in these letters has been
fully carried out.
Therefore, I say again, carry your child early to
the dentist, that the very first symptoms of decay
may be detected and checked. It will not do to
rely upon your own judgment as to the real condi-
tion of the teeth.
Notwithstanding all your care, decay is so in-
sidious, and due to so many remote and perhaps
hereditary causes, that it may obtain a foothold all
unsuspected by you, to be discovered only by the
trained eye and delicate touch of the instrument of
the skilled dentist.
The integrity and regularity of the second set, as
well as the health of your child, depends so much
upon the condition of the first set, that there should
be no guess-work about the latter.
Take your child, therefore, regularly to the den-
tist every few months after it has a mouthful of
teeth. Have a clear understanding with him from
the beginning, that those teeth are to be henceforth
under his special charge ; that, feeling your need
of his advice and co-operation in their care, you
intend conscientiously to second his efforts for their
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 59
preservation, and that you share with him the
responsibility of their integrity. With such an
understanding, the charges for mere examination
at regular intervals will be but light ; and there will
rarely be any necessity for anything else, in a large
majority of cases, if the precepts herein laid down
are faithfully followed out.
Dr. Homer Judd sums up the reasons for all this
care of the baby-teeth as follows :
1st. Because they are needed for daily use.
2d. Because it will prevent a great amount of
pain and sickness.
3d. Because by these means the nutritive process
will be carried on better, and as a consequence, the
health, growth and development of children will be
better than would be the case if these organs were
prematurely lost, and a better development of all
parts will be thus attained ; and
4th. As the regularity of the permanent teeth
depends very much upon the proper development
of the maxillary bones, we have no doubt but that
the proper care and retention of the deciduous set
will exert a salutary influence upon the former.
LETTER XIII.
ERUPTION OF THE PERMANENT TEETH.
When your baby's first big jaw teeth came in,
at the age of perhaps twelve months, they were
apparently as far back in the little jaw as a tooth
60 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
could well be placed ; yet, as the child entered its
third year, you found there was then ample space
for still another big tooth back of the first, the jaw
having evidently lengthened out to the rear, the
front teeth still having their old fixed places and
relative positions.
Caring for your child's teeth yourself, as I am
confident you will do, you will note all the changes
that occur from time to time, and consequently will
find that the jaw continues to make space back of
the teeth, until, at about the age of six years, still
another new tooth will make its appearance beyond
the two baby molars which have been doing good
service for three or four years.
You will not be liable to suppose, as does many
a- more ignorant mother, that there are three jaw
teeth in the baby set (and their decay immaterial,
because they are all to be replaced). Tou will
know that it cannot belong to the baby set of
twenty teeth, and also that merely replacing this
latter number will not afford the thirty-two which
make up the permanent set, even the addition of
the four u wisdom teeth," with which all are
familiar, making but twenty-four. When, where
and how do the eight others come ?
This new tooth, coming in at about the age of
six years, is the first molar (or jaw-tooth) of the
permanent set, frequently called the " sixth-year
molar," from the age at which they make their
appearance.
f MUNTAL J
ON THE^^^SJfg^F^PttE TEETH. 6l
Dr. Welchens calls these teeth the " corner-stones
of the arches, the outposts and main supports of
the whole process of second dentition. 91
These teeth are of special importance, for several
reasons : In the first place, they are ready for ser-
vice while the baby teeth are being lost and re-
placed ; and in the second place, they are the larg-
est teeth in the permanent set and in the centre of
the arch, therefore the principal ones in the whole
wall. They are also exactly opposite the duct (or
aperture) which furnishes the largest portion of
saliva, for the preparation of food for digestion.
As, for some as yet not well understood cause,
they are more liable to early decay than any of the
later teeth, they must receive special care and atten-
tion ; and on the first slight appearance of decay be
promptly filled, and, if necessary, refilled.
Dr. Wm. H. Dwindle speaks of these teeth as
being u the largest of all the molars, and appointed
to the post of honor of bridging over the critical
and dangerous gulf between youth and maturity ;
and as making normal mastication possible while
the temporary teeth pass away and are succeeded
by the permanent ones."
Watch for these sixth-year molars, then, and give
them your most careful attention. They are liable
to be less dense than the other teeth, and may re-
quire filling and refilling, but they are of sufficient
importance to justify it, for with proper care and
suitable diet they will improve in texture as they
grow older.
62 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
After these four teeth have come into place, the
little "front teeth" soon loosen and fall out, one
after the other.
The baby teeth are exchanged for new ones in
about the same order that they erupted, but in about
twice the length of time.
This replacement is preceded, as we have seen,
by the eruption of these " sixth-year" or first four
permanent molars (or jaw-teeth) and followed, at
about the age of from eleven to thirteen by four
others, still further back, as the jaw has again ex-
tended in length — the latter being known as the
"twelfth-year" or second permanent molars. The
six years intervening between the eruption of these
additional eight jaw-teeth are occupied in exchang-
ing the twenty baby teeth for twenty permanent
ones — none of the replacing teeth being double
teeth or molars.
The eight incisors (or central front teeth) should
all be exchanged for similar but larger and stronger
ones, by the time the child is nine years old.
Then — passing over the canines (stomach and
eye-teeth) as was the case with their eruption, the
eight baby molars are exchanged — not for new
molars, but for another class of teeth, not found in
the first set, called bicuspids, from their form (a
cusp being a point or prominence) — the eye-teeth
for instance, having one cusp, and the bicuspids
two.
These bicuspids, being small half-double teeth,.
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 63
are not infrequently pointed out to the dentist by
would-be-wise patients as evidence of not having
yet shed all the baby teeth !
The eight bicuspids being usually in place at
about the age of twelve years, the canines (or
stomach and eye-teeth) are next replaced by others
of the same shape, but larger and stronger ; the
twelfth-year molars make their appearance (some-
times before or while the canines are being ex-
changed), the eruption of the third molars (or
wisdom-teeth) completing the full adult set of
thirty- two teeth, without which no mouth is in
perfect condition to provide for all the wants of
the system. The eruption of the wisdom-teeth
varies from the ages of fifteen to fifty years of age ;
and they are sometimes the cause of severe suffer-
ing, from not having sufficient room developed in
the jaw for their occupation, the jaws and teeth
not having been properly exercised in mastication.
An Arab proverb reads: "He who does not
masticate well is an enemy to his own life."
No arguments for the care and preservation of
the permanent teeth need be adduced beyond those
already given in regard to the temporary ones.
" Their preservation and usefulness for speech
and mastication till advanced life ; the favorable
impression made upon the general health by the
ability thoroughly to masticate the food ; the com-
fort of a pure breath and wholesome saliva ; and
the agreeable effect produced upon others by the
64 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
exhibition of a clean and healthy mouth, are surely
reasons enough to induce all to pay that attention
to them upon which their appearance, preservation
and usefulness depend."
The suffering in masticating food with sensitive
or aching teeth, or the inconvenience when a num-
ber of them is lost, " can only be properly appreci-
ated by those who have been unfortunate enough
to have had some experience in this direction."
Speaking with distinctness and comfort depends
much upon a full and even set of teeth. If they
are crowded and irregular, or if there is now and
then one missing, it affects the voice at once, and is
very annoying to others who are obliged to listen
to it. Public speakers often fail to produce the
effect they desire upon their hearers, from this
cause, and are not conscious of it themselves.
Nothing contributes more to the beauty of the
features than a perfect, regular, clean set of teeth,
while a neglected, filthy, diseased mouth is painful
to all beholders.
The opinion is held by those who have given
this subject the closest study, that " upon an aver-
age, life is shortened one year for each tooth lost.
If this is true, as it must be to a great extent, how
important the preservation of every tooth in a
healthy and working condition ! The hygienic
care of the teeth is so understandable and simple,
that no one is excusable for not carrying out its
indications most perfectly.
" When disease has attacked the teeth, usually
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 6z>
but little or no concern is manifested about it. If
the eye or the ear becomes diseased, the utmost
solicitude is at once manifested, and no effort for
restoration is left untried. Time, money, and the
highest skill are all called into requisition — and
used lavishly, too, if a cure can but be obtained —
and yet the loss of an eye or an ear, usually, will
not affect the system at all. But the teeth may
become diseased and the patient suffer for months
and years, and even sicken and die, without any
one considering that disease of the teeth could exer-
cise any influence beyond the cavity of the mouth,
while the truth is, when the teeth are diseased,
every organ and every fibre in the body suffers as a
consequence. "
It is said on the authority of the last United
States census, that but one person in eighty has
sound teeth. It is also said by those who have
made a study of these things, that one hundred
years ago one person in every twenty- five had per-
fect teeth, while two hundred years ago the pro-
portion was one in every five !
What a comment upon the civilization of the
nineteenth centurv of enlightenment and culture !
LETTER XIV.
CAUSES OF DECAY. PREVENTION.
And now a few words as to the better understood
and more avoidable causes of the decay of the
teeth, and the possibilities of its prevention.
66 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
Dr. Marvin, of Brooklyn, N.Y., says:
u Purely preventive treatment must begin far
back, antedating birth, conception, marriage. In
the girlhood of the yet future mother, the instruc-
tions should be given, which, if followed, will
secure uniform physical development, perfect ner-
vous balance, a healthy circulation, good digestion
— in a word, robust health. This is the time for,
and this is preventive treatment. It consists of
nutritious diet, regularity of habits, exercise in the
open air — (such exercise as employs all the ma-
chinery of the human frame, as walking, horseback
riding, rowingj ; a style of dress which does not
hinder the free action of the internal organs, which
does not distort the body nor weigh unduly upon
the abdomen, nor overclothe one part, leaving an-
other unprotected ; regular and consistent habits of
thought ; the cultivation of equability of temper and
sufficient sleep at the proper hours of sleep.
" Such habits of life, many of which I know are
not fashionable, will prepare a woman to transmit
to the children she may bring into the world, an
inheritance of incalculable value and permanent
duration. "
This is but another way of saying what I have
been urging upon you from the very first of these
letters ; for what will give robust health will make
good teeth, and will maintain good teeth.
You ask, then, why do the teeth decay?
First, we will look at the natural surroundings
of the teeth.
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 67
They are constantly bathed in the fluid secretions
of the mouth ; they are implanted in a fibrous tissue
covered with a membrane which secretes large quan-
tities of mucus ; and they are kept constantly at a
comparatively high temperature.
You know that when acids, such as lemon-juice,
vinegar, or strong medicines, are accidentaly spilled
upon the marble top of your sideboard, wash-stand
or bureau, that it is permanently injured, if they are
allowed to remain there ; the fine gloss is destroyed?
the surface roughened, and if a round drop stands
long, a little pit is formed.
Now, marble is one example of lime formation,
and your teeth another. All acid foods, fruits,
drinks, medicines, tooth-washes or powders, are
therefore injurious to the teeth if allowed to remain
about them.
" Most people have experienced what is com-
monly called teeth set on edge. The explanation
of it is, the acid of the fruit that has been eaten has
so far softened the enamel of the tooth that the least
pressure is felt by the tiny nerve fibrils pervading
the bony part of the tooth. Such an effect cannot
be produced without injuring the enamel. True,
it will become hard again, when the acid has been
removed by the fluids of the mouth, just as an egg-
shell that has been softened in this way becomes
hard again by being put in water. When the
effect of sour fruit on the teeth subsides, they feel
as well as ever, but they are not as well. And the
68 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
oftener it is repeated, the sooner the disastrous
consequences will be manifested/ '
Therefore, rinse your teeth promptly and thor-
oughly with an alkaline wash (simple lime-water
is good), to neutralize all such acids; and your
teeth will not decay from this cause.
Food of any kind, if allowed to accumulate
around and between the teeth, will, in the natural
high temperature of the mouth, ferment and gen-
erate acids, which will cause the teeth to decay :
Therefore, keep your teeth scrupulously clean
and free from all particles of food, and they will
not decay from this cause.
Cracking nuts and biting threads will fracture
the enamel and allow acids to penetrate to the den-
tine, inducing rapid decay ; also allowing ingress
to the germs, bacteria, and what not, which are
supposed to run riot in the animal tissues of the
teeth :
Therefore, do not crack nuts or bite threads
with your teeth, and they will not decay from this
cause.
Very hot drinks or very cold drinks will have
the same effect upon the enamel of your teeth that
the same sudden changes of temperature would
have upon a fine glass goblet :
Therefore, do not expose your teeth to these
changes of temperature (as, for instance, a cup of
very hot tea or coffee, followed by a glass of ice-
water), and your teeth will not decay from this
cause.
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 69
Dr. Richardson (of the Odontological Society
of Great Britain) thinks that one of the most effi-
cient causes of the decay of the teeth is found " in
that form of dyspepsia induced in early life by
improper feeding, especially in the substitution of
artificial foods for the natural breast milk. . . .
the child being deprived of its natural and admira-
bly adapted food, and supplied with nourishment
which its stomach could not digest, nor its body
assimilate, its tissues, generally, were imperfectly
constructed, and although it might retrieve in after-
life some of the harm which had been inflicted, in
the case of tissues which are constantly undergoing
reconstruction, in the case of such dense structures
as the teeth, perfection was impossible if the start
was bad."
Another very frequent cause of decay and irregu-
larity of the teeth lies in the inheritance of incon-
gruous jaws and teeth from the two parents. The
father having large teeth in a corresponding jaw,
and the mother small teeth in a small jaw, though
both may have perfect sets of teeth, the inheritance
may nevertheless be most unfortunate for the chil-
dren. The teeth being as a rule inherited from
the father (Drs. Winder and Coy say eight times
out of ten), and the bones — including, of course,
the jaw — from the mother, the large teeth of the
one being crowded into the small jaw of the other,
the teeth of the children will probably be irregu-
lar and overlapping, and cleanliness consequently
next to impossible.
70 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
But these things are rarely taken into considera-
tion when young people fall in love and marry,
and a little rosebud mouth is so lovely in a wom-
an's face !
Reverse the case, and let the father have small
teeth, and the mother a large jaw, and the hap-
piest results may be expected in the next genera-
tion. And this about exhausts the list of the more
ordinary causes of decayed teeth.
There are others, attributable to hereditary and
transmit tible diseases, which are beyond control,
as society now exists. This may appear a very
delicate subject to touch upon, but it is neverthe-
less a fact that, until the culture of the human race
is made a matter of as much consideration as the
raising of fine poultry or live-stock, men and wom-
en, who have no moral right to bring into the
world children to inherit and perpetuate disease
and suffering, will marry and transmit the curse of
hereditary and incurable disease to countless gen-
erations yet to come.
And teeth will continue to decay, from this cause,
so long as these things are not understood and
made a matter of serious consideration, before
marriage.
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 7 1
LETTER XV.
DISEASES OF THE SOFT TISSUES OF THE MOUTH.
There are some diseases of the soft tissues of the
mouth (or rather of the gums) which require brief
mention, in connection with this subject, especially
those which result from lack of proper care of the
teeth.
In their healthy condition the gums are firm and
tough, forming regular festoons around and be-
tween the teeth ; their color is even and fine, and
not too high ; their nerves are not sensitive, and
their slightly acid secretions are neutralized by the
alkaline saliva. When diseased, the tissue be-
comes soft and flabby ; the color denotes inflam-
mation, and they bleed at the slightest touch, or
pus (or matter) is discharged from around the
necks of the teeth ; their nerves become acutely
sensitive ; the secretions abnormally acid, causing
sensitive grooves around the necks of the teeth,
which may eventually decay. The breath is also
rendered foul and offensive, sending poisonous
effluvia. to the lungs, and poisoning the blood.
The causes of this diseased condition of the gums
are various, but all are traceable to the same gen-
eral source — namely, neglect of the teeth, and
ignorance of the consequences.
Particles of food, crowded down under the edges
of the gum, generate acids and cause irritation and
inflammation.
72 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
The saliva deposits more or less tartar upon the
teeth ; soft and pasty, and small in quantity at first,
and easily removed by the brush ; but if allowed to
accumulate, increasing rapidly — like attracting
like — and becoming hard and gritty, working its
way under the gums down the roots of the teeth,
it loosens them, sometimes detaching them entirely
and causing them to fall, whole and undecayed,
from their sockets.
The only treatment for this is — prevent it in
the first place, by absolute cleanliness of the teeth,
and have it removed by the dentist with proper
instruments if you have allowed it to accumulate.
All washes or other preparations, advertised as
being able to dissolve the tartar, will also dissolve
the enamel of the tooth itself.
The same may be said of the removal of green
or brown discolorations or stains, seen around the
necks of the teeth of both children and adults.
Gum-boils are the result of the decomposition of
a dead pulp (or nerve) of the tooth preceded by
decay. They are prevented by preventing de-
cay, and cured by proper treatment of the tooth
by the dentist.
Swelled face results from the same cause, and
requires the same treatment.
Never poultice or make hot applications of any
kind on the outside, or a disfiguring scar may be
the result. Reduce the inflammation by cold appli-
cations externally, and apply a hot roasted raisin
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 73
or fig on the inside (the proper spot will indicate
itself) , and sec your dentist.
In the care of the teeth as well as of the general
health, too much importance cannot be attached to
lime-water, as I said before.
A pitcher appropriated solely to its preparation,
should be found in every household, and a bottle
of clear lime-water should have a place on the
sideboard, and on every wash-stand in the house.
It is always ready, and requires no preparation,
as is the case with carbonate of soda and other alka-
line preparations. It is equally invaluable to both
adult and infant.
If the mouth be well rinsed with lime-water after
every meal, and especially after eating any acid
fruit, or drinking lemonade, and also just before re-
tiring at night, a large proportion of the teeth that,
without this simple precaution, would decay, may
be kept sound, without any further care or expense
than the use of the brush and tooth-pick.
The toothache of pregnancy may frequently be
relieved by this simple remedy.
A spoonful, in a little clear water, swallowed on
the first symptoms of indigestion (such as a feeling
of fulness, acid risings in the throat, etc.) will often
act like a charm in preventing any further indispo-
sition.
Added to the milk fed to an infant, it prevents
the formation of tough curds and renders the milk
more easily digestible.
74 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
The vomiting and diarrhoea of an infant may also
often be checked by the frequent administration of
a teaspoonful of lime-water in three or four of water
or milk.
But especially in the care of the teeth it is in-
valuable as a prophylactic, or preventive of decay.
And now, my dear young friend, a brief enu-
meration in my next letter, of a few of the diseases
which may fairty be attributed to decayed teeth as
their first cause, must bring to a close this already
too lengthy correspondence.
Under the stimulus of your appreciative replies,
and your repeated requests for still further informa-
tion, it has grown into almost a scientific disserta-
tion, far beyond its original design.
LETTER XVI.
DISEASES RESULTING FROM DECAYED TEETH.
The tooth is an integral part of the human body
— u nourished by the same aliments, vitalized by
the same blood, pervaded by the same nerves" —
as the heart, the lungs or the brain.
The stomach is the great laboratory of the hu-
man system. Dr. Edward Nelson says: "For the
proper performance of its functions, it should be in
a healthy condition ; but this may be seriously de-
ranged and the whole economy thrown into disor-
der, and even fatal consequences result from intense
OX THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 75
pain, as it shoots and vibrates along the nerves
from the swollen and inflamed pulp of a single
tooth."
The first and inevitable effect of decayed teeth
upon the general health is indigestion from insuffi-
cient mastication, and the swallowing of the vitiated
fluids of the mouth.
The digestive organs ceasing to do their duty,
;t the blood becomes vitiated, and the whole organ-
ism becomes enfeebled, with its attendant gradual
wasting away and loss of vital power."
Frequent indigestions result in chronic dyspepsia,
gastritis, enteritis and death.
Neuralgia in connection with decayed teeth is
too common to need mention. Another considera-
tion is that even the extraction of decayed teeth
becomes a fresh cause of neuralgia, thus affording
a double reason against allowing the teeth to decay.
The effluvia from decayed teeth poisons the
breath, and entering the lungs becomes a potent
factor in the causes of consumption.
The discharging pus from diseased gums and
decayed teeth poisons the secretions and the blood,
resulting in septicemia or blood poisoning.
The lamented Dr. J. Marion Sims, of New York,
says : u Decayed teeth, with matter exuding from
around the teeth, are the means of producing more
nervous disorders, more terrible consequences to
the general health than almost any other thing that
can happen. ... It is a matter of regret that
76 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
medical men generally have so little knowledge on
this subject."
Dr. N. E. Hollace, of Boston, also says : " The
bad effects of a diseased and unclean mouth upon
the general health are of a more serious conse-
quence than most physicians are aware. In twenty-
four hours we breathe twenty thousand times, and
what must be the effect upon the delicate structure
of the lungs when, for days, months and years, the
air we breathe is drawn through a depository of
filth, and is poisoned by being mixed with effluvia
arising from decayed teeth and ulcerated gums."
An English physician relates the case of a gen-
tleman, pronounced by one of the highest medical
authorities of the day to be afflicted with cancer of
the stomach, twenty years ago, to whom it was
proposed to have his decayed teeth removed, and
an artificial set inserted. He says: " This pro-
posal seemed almost a mockery to a man who had
just been assured that he was gradually sinking
from an inevitably fatal malady, but it was acted
upon, with the result that the patient soon regained
his digestive power, and is alive at the present day,
a fairly vigorous man of eighty years of age."
Dr. Winston, of Nashville, says : " I once saw a
cancer which had resisted all treatment of physi-
cian and charlatan — a dentist cured it in five min-
utes. I saw a woman wasting under consumption,
and regarded as doomed to die. Her teeth were
extracted, and now she walks the streets of Nash-
OX THE CARE OE THE TEETH. 77
ville with as blithe a step and as agile as any
young lady in the city."
Dr. Peetz, of Merseberg, Germany, relates the
case of a working woman with paralysis of the
left side. She having stated that the paralysis
came on after an attack of acute pain in a certain
tooth, the tooth being extracted, the paralysis was
cured and never again recurred.
Dr. Samuel Sexton, who has been engaged in
an investigation of the teeth of school children,
with special reference to the influence of decayed
teeth upon the sight and hearing, testifies that he
has found an almost constant association between
near-sightedness, impaired hearing, and decayed
teeth.
He has also found them responsible for deep-
seated cerebral trouble, progressive dementia (or
insanity) having been arrested " by repairs on the
teeth/
Dr. Barnett, also, says : "It has long been
known and recorded in medical literature that a
peculiar sympathy exists between the ear and the
teeth," while Dr. Edward Woakes, in his work on
deafness, etc., traces this same connection through
" the clear channel of nerve communication. "
Dr. Koch, of Chicago, says: "Insanity has
been cured by the extraction of carious teeth."
Dr. Savage relates the case of a man who was
more or less insane for six months, being some-
times quite dangerous, during the six months of
78 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
his insanity. As he was also suffering from tooth-
ache, some decayed teeth were extracted and there
was no return of the insanity."
A case is also cited by the celebrated French
Professor Velpeau, of a case of mental derange-
ment in a lady, which was cured by the simple
lancing of the gum, liberating a wisdom-tooth.
Dr. Nelson, of Frederick, Md., says: "Dys-
pepsia, phthisis pulmonalis, neuralgia, epilepsy,
rheumatism, affections of the ear and eye, and
even insanity, have each and all had their origin in
a carious tooth.' '
Pages could be filled with similar statements, but
surely enough has been said to show that the tooth-
ache, excruciating as are its agonies, forms but a
minor part of the evils resulting from decayed
teeth, though, as Dr. Hollace says, mere " fain
itself is fully capable of deranging the whole econ-
omy, and inducing serious and fatal disorder."
There is another point to be considered :
Though health is of the first and prime impor-
tance, beauty is a matter of no small consideration.
A prime factor in beauty, and the most expres-
sive feature of the human countenance is the
mouth, and the expression of the mouth depends
largely upon the teeth. " In vain will the eyes
sparkle with joy and delight, if the lips are com-
pressed to hide a mouth full of defective teeth.
The whole countenance, beaming with brightness,
loses half its charm by the exhibition of a foul and
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 79
unsightly denture. Half the charms of real culture
are lost when expressed through an unsightly den-
ture, and the expression of sorrow and grief is
made hideous by the exhibition of this living tomb
of decay. "
CONCLUSION.
In conclusion, I will give you only one single
case, though numerous others might be cited, in
illustration of what can be, and has been, accom-
plished by carefully and thoroughly following out
such a system as that indicated in the preceding
pages — the history of a family of five children, as
narrated to me by their dentist (who was also their
father) .
There was every reason to anticipate poor teeth
for them, for, on the paternal side, though the
grandfather had fair average teeth, he lost them all
before the age of fifty, while the grandmother lost
all of hers before the age of thirty. The father,
appreciating the value of his teeth, kept them in
good condition by the most watchful care, but has
numerous large fillings. Of his two sisters (he
had no brothers) , one wears an artificial denture ;
the other — much younger — has most of her own
teeth yet, but they are very frail, and consist more
of filling-material than tooth-substance.
On the maternal side, the grandfather was tooth-
less from the earliest recollection of his children,
8o ADVICE TO MOTHERS
and the grandmother lost all of her teeth before the
birth of any of the grandchildren to be mentioned.
The mother wore a full upper and lower set before
the conception of her first child ; her oldest sister
wore six upper front teeth on pivots before the age
of fourteen, and a full set before she was twenty;
the second has very frail teeth, and only retains
them by the greatest care, all of them having fill-
ings ; the third has but a few ragged remnants of
teeth left, and only waits for courage to have them
extracted to wear a full set. No brothers.
Knowing all this, and having given the subject
much study, the father early endeavored to impress
upon his wife his views of her responsibility in the
matter.
He laid before her a theory of tooth-culture by
tooth-nutrition, and prescribed the diet and "drugs"
by which he hoped to provide suitable nutritive
elements, first to the embryo through the mother's
nutrition, second to the babe through her milk, and
third to the babe itself in its diet, exercise, etc.
But she responded but poorly to his efforts in the
case of the first child. The prescribed diet was
distasteful, with its brown bread, oatmeal porridge,
etc. ; the lime-water and other prescriptions were
unpalatable ; in short, to use her own words,
"other people's children had teeth, and she sup-
posed hers would, too, and she was not going to
subject herself to any such vagaries in support of
mere scientific theories."
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH. 8l
Being young and self-willed, and not long mar-
ried, she had things pretty much her own way ; but
she had the mortification of finding that her baby
had soft, chalky, defective teeth, which before its
third birthday had already received thirteen fillings,
besides which it early suffered the loss of a lower
molar, thereby, to a critical eye, marring the per-
fect symmetry of the features.
Concluding that it might perhaps be wiser to
test the matter, radical changes were made in the
diet and habits of the first child, and the mother
adopted the prescribed regime, partially for the
second child, and pretty fully for the three which
followed. Bearing children rapidly, the first child
being but little over four years old when the fourth
was born, she was, however, unable to give that
close personal attention to their teeth necessary to
the absolute perfection of cleanliness.
Necessarily left much to the ministrations of
ignorant and careless servants, their sixth-year
molars were neglected, while their diet, dress and
exercise were often the very contrary to what they
should have been, although the father, of course,
gave them all the attention possible, in the little
time that could be spared from his professional
duties and the care of an invalid wife.
But with all these drawbacks, let us see the
results of even the partial following out of the
theory of embryonic and infantile deittal nutri-
tion :
82 ADVICE TO MOTHERS
The oldest child had the soft, chalky baby-teeth
so hardened and reconstructed as to require no
further fillings after the thirteen put in before the
third birthday, as already stated, and now, at the
age of seventeen, with the exception of a slight
irregularity resulting from the unfortunate early
loss of the deciduous lower molar, as stated, has a
perfect set of teeth, of fine structure and quality,
with only very small fissure-fillings in two of the
sixth-year molars, which, in consequence of inher-
ited defective fissures, required attention within a
few months of their eruption ; all of her teeth are
otherwise intact.
The second child, a boy^of nearly fifteen, has as
even and sound a set of teeth as can be found any-
where.
The third, a girl of thirteen, has beautifully reg-
ular, sound and perfect teeth.
The fourth child, as far as the permanent teeth
have erupted, with the exception of the same
slight fissure-fillings, has absolutely no imperfec-
tion whatever in her teeth, either in size, color,
quality or position.
It is too early yet to pronounce judgment upon
the permanent teeth of the fifth child, as he is but
seven years old; but as his deciduous teeth have
remained intact with the exception of minute
approximal fillings in the upper central incisors,
which are now replaced by permanent teeth of fine
quality, and as his sixth-year molars are of good
ON THE CARE OF THE TEETH.
texture, I think it is fairly proved by this case
alone, even were there no others on record, that,
by a judicious system of diet, selecting such arti-
cles of food as offer the greatest abundance of min-
eral elements ; by keeping the system in such a
condition of general good health by bathing, exer-
cise, fresh air, etc., that these elements will be
assimilated and appropriated by the organs which
specially require them, coming generations may
be provided with strong, sound teeth.
If such a system could be universally adopted,
disease would be practically banished from the
world.
Strong, hearty, well nourished and well devel-
oped men and women would replace the pale,
puny, half-starved invalids who now form such a
large proportion of our population.
Mothers ! to you is committed the responsibil-
ity of beginning this great work. In the words
of another : fc< Important as it is in reference to the
present, its magnitude awes us when we consider
it with relation to the millions yet to come."
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